


Caged

by EmberandShadow



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: 3x18 scene, M/M, nygmobblepot reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 09:02:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10918629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmberandShadow/pseuds/EmberandShadow
Summary: Ed and Os have their reunion, and it's filled with more emotions than either of them can handle.





	Caged

**Author's Note:**

> THIS WAS MEANT TO BE A SHORT DRABBLE FOR MY TUMBLR BUT THEN IT KEPT GOING SO NOW YOU HAVE THIS ENJOY <3

**Edward:**

He hears the screams before he even has time to process that they’ve thrown another person into the cells. He knows the tone immediately, has had it memorized for ages, heard it in his head too many times to count. He can’t really believe it though. He can’t seem to make himself believe that what he heard was true. So he turns around, needing to see with his eyes, needing to rely on another sense to tell him if what he heard was true.

He nearly gasps when he turns around because

Oswald.

He’s standing there in the cell next to his, so close, so foreign, a sight he never thought he’d see again and Ed isn’t sure if he wants to rejoice or to yell in anger so he opts to just stand in astonishment instead.

_Oswald._

He doesn’t know how this is possible, doesn’t know if it’s a trick. He’s on the verge of accepting that it’s just a hallucination but the forefront of his mind is telling him it’s not. This is _real._ Oswald is really here.

“ _Oswald.”_ The name comes out of Ed’s mouth more angrily than he intended, but he doesn’t feel any guilt for it. He lets his tone indicate all the rage and relief and confusion he’s feeling right now.

Oswald turns slowly, so _slowly._ Like he’s shocked, like he wasn’t prepared, like he could have imagined a hundred scenarios and hearing Ed’s voice was none of them at all. Ed is half expecting that the man in the other cell isn’t actually Oswald, that he’s just played this up, mistaken the voice for someone else. And then Oswald turns fully to him and Ed can’t hold back the gasp this time.

“You’re _alive_.” He can’t tell if his voice is more angry or surprised. He doesn’t really care.

**Oswald:**

This is nothing new to him. He can’t count how many times in his life things have gone wrong, when he’s had to yell and scream to get people’s attentions, to tell them that they’re better off working _with_ him than _against_ him. From the moment he’s shoved into the cell he’s prepared to do exactly that- yell and scream- and he starts too. And then he hears it, that voice, the person he’s been looking for, the man he came back to kill.

“ _Oswald.”_

Oswald’s screaming stop immediately. The sound of that voice makes him tense, makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, makes his heart flip in his chest. 

Edward Nygma.

He’d been planning a reunion for a while, had been looking forward to the moment he got to take his revenge on him. But now that he hears his voice he isn’t sure what he wants to do. And anyway it may not even _be_ Edward; it might be someone who sounds similar to him. Oswald doesn’t want to turn around, isn’t quite ready yet to look at the man who killed him but he does it anyway. He turns slowly, trying to mentally prepare himself.

Ed gasps, says, “You’re _alive._ ” Both like a statement and as a comment of surprise.

Oswald feels everything at once. He feels all his love and hatred and betrayal at the same time. He isn’t sure if his heart is beating faster because he’s scared or because he’s elated at seeing the love of his life again.

**Edward:**

Oswald walks toward him. Again, being slow. He tries to analyze everything he’s feeling, wondering whether he’s angry or not. And when that proves too difficult he decides to try and read Oswald.

Oswald who looks like he’s on the verge of tears

Oswald who looks like he wants to kill him

Oswald who has so much going on in his eyes that it’s hard for Ed to fully understand what’s going on inside his head.

When he reaches the bars of his cell his eyes look more resigned than anything else. More sad than angry. More forgiving than hateful. Ed exhales, fully accepting that Oswald has miraculously survived. Because _of course_ he has. It takes more than a gunshot to take down the Penguin- more than a heartbreak to cripple Oswald Cobblepot. Ed’s shoulders relax, he eases into a sense of security because Oswald is standing in front of him and it feels so right even with all the baggage between them.

And then he lashes out. Oswald reaches through the bars for him, grabbing in what seems to be a violent manner and Ed steps back, startled. Oswald looks like a wild animal now; predatory, hungry, angry. He looks like he wants nothing more than to rip into Ed’s throat and tear him apart. Ed wouldn’t put it past him.

Ed lets out a shaky breath. He’s never seen Oswald _this_ unhinged. Never seen him looking so hateful and so content at the same time. He realizes in that moment that this isn’t the same person he shot on those docks, the person who was crying and declaring his love, the person who told him that _this_ murder would change him. There’s none of the love he used to see in Oswald’s eyes. And Ed can tell that the Oswald that stands before him is a dangerous one- no longer held back by his love.

**Oswald:**

 He walks toward the bars of the cell. And he’s quiet. He can’t seem to form words. The once articulate Oswald Cobblepot is speechless in this moment. He feels too much at once, he want’s to cry and lash out and hug Ed all at the same time. He reaches the bars and takes a moment to just look at Ed, wonder if he regrets at all his decision, wonders if he felt any grief at all for his dead ‘best friend’.

He can’t stop himself from lashing out. Can’t help the rage that wells up in him. He feels the betrayal loud and clear now, feels it so prominently inside himself that it completely takes over.

He wraps his rage around him, wears it like a coat, finds comfort in it like a mothers hug. If it weren’t for the bars separating them he’s sure he would have pinned Ed to the ground, pummeled him until he begged for mercy, beat him to death right there and then with his bare hands. But the bars are in his way and he’s trapped within the confines of his cage and so he just straightens himself. He looks at Ed with all the rage and betray in his heart.

And h hopes that Ed can see that he came for Ed with a purpose. He hopes that Ed can see that whatever he felt before, he may just well abandon it in place of his revenge.

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly don't know when writing out all my feelings after a Gotham episode became my only way of coping but here we are. Now you get all my feelings during that 40 second scene.


End file.
